An evacuation order in the northern border town of Akobo East has forced tens of thousands of people — including all aid agency staff — to leave, closing critical humanitarian programmes for over 200,000 people and deepening already catastrophic conditions, Oxfam reports today. The South Sudan People's Defence Forces issued the order on 6 March, requiring everyone to evacuate within four days. Oxfam South Sudan Country Director Shabnam Baloch called it “outrageous,” saying it has forced the closure of life-saving assistance in a town where families were already surviving on wild fruits and leaves from the bushes.